News Archives
10/26/17
ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Board Sets 2018 Specifications for Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Origin
Virginia: The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Under the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, the Board set a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2018 season. download the pdf.
10/26/17
Petition UNESCO Support in Creating a Global Sanctuary for the Horseshoe Crab
New York: We the undersigned petition #UNESCO to support the creation of a global sanctuary for these unique and venerable creatures by establishing the first designation of “World Heritage Species” for this invertebrate. download the pdf.
10/15/17
Wantagh Students Become Horseshoe Crab Farmers
New York: Inside a fish tank at Mandalay Elementary School are 500 tiny horseshoe crab eggs that are being observed and researched by Horizon’s program students. download the pdf.
10/15/17
New Mascot in Town at Rhodes
Rhode Island: On Thursday morning the school community at Rhodes Elementary School gathered together for a very special event, one that was the result of several years of effort, much hard work by last year’s fourth grade classes and a schoolwide landslide vote last spring. The school mascot was officially changed on Thursday morning from a tiger to a horseshoe crab, marking a new era for Rhodes, a community which is within walking distance to Narragansett Bay, where horseshoe crabs can often be found. download the pdf.
07/20/17
How Horseshoe Crabs Are Saving Us from Healthcare-Associated Infections
Global: There are some newer tests that may replace at least the bacteria-detecting role of LAL and TAL, which are not made from horseshoe crab blood. One is recombinant factor C — synthetic version of Factor C, a clotting factor in horseshoe crab blood, from cloned DNA. Another uses human blood. It’s called the monocyte activation test (MAT), also known as the in-vitro pyrogen test, and it may eventually detect non-endotoxin bacteria that horseshoe crab blood can’t reveal. Scientists continue to develop those methods so they can be more reliable and widely used, while also searching for other alternatives. download the pdf.
06/22/17
Delaware’s 2017 Horseshoe Crab Commercial Fishery to Close June 22
Delaware: DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today that Delaware’s 2017 commercial harvest quota of 162,136 male horseshoe crabs has been met, and that the horseshoe crab fishery will close at 12:01 a.m., Thursday, June 22 in accordance with Delaware law and regulations. The fishery will remain closed the rest of the year. download the pdf.
05/15/17
Horseshoe Crab Ban Okayed for Stratford
Connecticut: The House on Wednesday morning unanimously approved a ban on the harvesting or killing of horseshoe crabs along a section of the Stratford shoreline where the primitive shellfish spawn. download the pdf.
05/13/17
Horseshoe Crab Prevails as Rhodes Mascot
Rhode Island: For months, the fourth grade students at E.S. Rhodes Elementary School in Susan Weber’s and Stephanie Pearson’s classes have been working hard researching, educating and lobbying their school community for a change in the traditional school mascot, the tiger, for a more meaningful mascot, the horseshoe crab. download the pdf.
03/14/17
Florida Fish and Wildlife: Be a Citizen-Scientist This Horseshoe Crab Spawning Season
Florida: Spring is approaching and that means it is peak mating season for horseshoe crabs. Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are asking the public to report horseshoe crab sightings. download the pdf.
03/02/17
Horseshoe Crabs Need Catch Limits Maintained
Massachusetts: This letter was sent to David Pierce, director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. On behalf of Mass Audubon, I submit the following comments on the proposed amendments to regulations governing the catch of horseshoe crabs. This proposed amendment would: a. Increase the horseshoe crab mobile gear trip limits from 300 crabs to 600 crabs effective no later than July 1; and b. Exempt mobile gear fishermen from all or some of the springtime lunar closures. download the pdf.
02/13/17
Call for Abstracts CERF 2017
Rhode Island: The IUCN Horseshoe Crab Specialist Group invites abstracts for a Special Session entitled, “Linking Species and Habitat Conservation for Global Horseshoe Crab Populations,” which has been accepted into the program of the 2017 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) Meeting. The conference will be held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island (USA) from November 5-9, 2017. The deadline for abstract submission is 1 May 2017, and the deadline for early registration is 15 May 2017. Information about the meeting, as well as travel and hotel information is available at the conference website. download the pdf.
02/12/17
Legislators Propose Bill to Ban Harvest of Stratford Horseshoe Crabs
Connecticut: A pair of state legislators want to ban fishermen from harvesting horseshoe crab along the town’s shoreline to protect a species some believe is struggling in Long Island Sound. download the pdf.
02/11/17
Vineyard Fishermen Warn of Ruin If Conch Rule Enacted
Massachusetts: Vineyarders had no problem with the state clarifying the striped bass rule, but objected to another proposal that, starting June 10, would double the trip limit for horseshoe crabs, from 300 to 600, and eliminate the five-day lunar spawning closures. “If we go to 600 crabs, they’re going to give us a buck apiece for them,” Mr. Krzyzewski said, referring to horseshoe crab buyers from the biomedical industry and those who use the crabs as bait. download the pdf.
11/01/17
UMT Researcher Develops TAL Kit
Malaysia: A Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) researcher has successfully developed a Quick Endotoxin Detecting Kit (TAL) based on her in-depth research of horseshoe crabs in the country. download the pdf.
08/15/17
Out of the Frying Pan, into the Wetlands
Malaysia: It’s early on a Sunday morning in July, and they’re here to witness the swarm of horseshoe crabs being released into the wetland on Malaysia’s eastern coast. For these ancient yet imperiled living fossils—they predate dinosaurs by 200 million years, and have changed little since—this was the last stop on a four-day, 250-kilometer journey meant to save them from becoming someone’s dinner. Now, they’re free to swim in Southeast Asia’s first horseshoe crab conservation area. download the pdf.
03/30/17
International Conference on the Conservation of Asian Horseshoe Crabs (ICCA-HSC 2017)
Thailand: The International Conference on the Conservation of Asian Horseshoe Crabs (ICCA-HSC 2017) will be held 25-27 August 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference objective is to create a platform for researchers, scientists, academicians, professionals and policy makers to discuss recent advances and new findings in various aspects on Asian horseshoe crab research and to encourage and develop research and development collaborations among the participating researchers and to facilitate research links between institutions. download the pdf.
02/23/17
Project to Save Horseshoe Crab Wins Green Prize in Singapore
Singapore: ITE College West student Eunos Chong had never met a horseshoe crab face to face until a project he started about two years ago made him passionate about protecting the endangered creatures. As part of a project for the SembCorp Marine Green Wave Environmental Care Competition, Mr Chong, 18, and three of his schoolmates designed and manufactured a “Horseshoe Crab Propagation System”, a system of tanks and an incubator for breeding and rearing horseshoe crabs. And on Thursday (Feb 23), they took home the winning prize in the junior college/ ITE category for their project. doownload the pdf.
02/22/17
Odisha Hopeful of World Heritage Tag for Bhitarkanika National Park
India: The Odisha government is hopeful of getting the Bhitarkanika National Park, the country’s second largest mangrove forest after the Sundarbans in neighbouring West Bengal, included in the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites. download the pdf.
02/18/17
Biodiversity and Distribution of Horseshoe Crabs in Northern Coast of Java and Southern Coast of Madura
Indonesia: Scientific information about species distribution of three Asian horseshoe crab in Indonesia is limited, also about morphometric characters. This study aims to determine the morphometric characters and species distribution of three Asian horseshoe crab in north coast of Java and south coast of Madura Island. This study was conducted on July-August 2016. download the pdf.
01/21/17
Braving Mud to Save Horseshoe Crabs
Singapore: Volunteers washing up and changing out of their diving shoes after helping to rescue horseshoe crabs at the Mandai mudflats. They were among 86 volunteers taking part in the Nature Society (Singapore)’s Horseshoe Crab Research and Rescue Programme, which saves horseshoe crabs that have been caught in nets and collects data for conservation purposes. download the pdf.
07/26/17
König Galerie, Berlin is presenting “400 Million Years Ago” by Danish artist Tue Greenfort.
Germany: This exhibition presents three new groups of Tue Greenfort’s works that evolve around processes of the natural world, discourses of ecology and notions of the environment, while the horseshoe crab figures as a theme to the exhibition’s perspective on human and non-human agency. download the pdf.
11/02/17
Young Voices, Horseshoe Crabs and the Arts 2017
Delaware: Our 2017 contest year received 585 entries from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mauritius and the USA. Our judges selected 36 of the most compelling artworks from each grade level that entered. As always, the task was challenging, for all forms of personal expression are, by their very nature, an honest reflection of the heart within. Since the programs inception in 1998, the Young Voices that give this program life, has grown from a few hundred, to many thousands around the world. We celebrate these young environmental stewards, whose compassion for the conservation of this remarkable species, expressed through art, has elevated and transformed our perception of this often-misunderstood marine. To see a complete list of this years selected artist download the pdf.
09/15/17
Horseshoe Crab’s Blue Blood Saves Lives
Norway: An article about horseshoe crabs, the life saving properties of their blood and the risks they face in Asia from loss of habitat and the unsustainable harvest of the Tachypleus species for human consumption and the production of Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) used by the pharmaceutical /biomedical industry operating in China to detect the presence of endotoxins in injectable drugs and implantable devises, which are life threatening vs Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) used throughout the rest of the world for endotoxin testing and produced from the blood of the Limulus species, whose harvest is regulated. ERDG’s conservation efforts and Just flip ’em!™ program were also mentioned. download the pdf.
08/28/17
The Harvest of the Tachypleus Horseshoe Crab Species for the Production of TAL is Unsustainable
Thailand: August 26, 2017, at the International Conference for the Conservation of Asian Horseshoe Crabs (ICCA-HSC) held in Bangkok, Thailand, ERDG presented its concern about the over harvesting of the Tachypleus species for the production of TAL and the detrimental impact it is having on the Tachypleus population throughout Southeast Asia. In this presentation ERDG invites the pharmaceutical/biomedical industry to join the horseshoe crab conservation community in the conservation of these remarkable Asian species, by eliminating unsustainable endotoxin testing products from their supply chain. “The Harvest of the Tachypleus Horseshoe Crab Species for the Production of TAL is Unsustainable.”
06/23/17
Lonza’s 3rd Global Endotoxin Testing Summit
Maryland: For the last three years, ERDG’s founder Glenn Gauvry, has had the honor to speak to the attendees of the Global Endotoxin Testing Summit hosted by Lonza in Annapolis Maryland, about the role the pharmaceutical/ biomedical industry can play in the conservation of the world’s four horseshoe crabs species, by using endotoxin detection products that are manufactured in a sustainable manner. download the pdf.
06/12/17
Ninth Annual Horseshoe Crab Blessing and Rescue Dharma Assembly
Delaware: Buddhists from four states come together for the Ninth Annual Horseshoe Crab Blessing and Rescue Dharma Assembly on Pickering Beach, Delaware. download the pdf.
06/11/17
Hamlet Never Met a Horseshoe Crab
New Jersey: To Be or Not to Be, That is the Question. ERDG’s Just flip ’em!™ Program, which began in 1998, is saving lives from Maine to the Yucatan, through a simple act of compassion. download the pdf.
05/19/17
Just flip ’em!™ New Spawning Season – New Logo
Delaware: With the beginning of the new horseshoe crab spawning season, ERDG has given its Just flip ’em!TM logo a facelift. We hope our new design will more easily encourage this simple act of compassion for a species that will not survive our indifference. download the pdf.
03/09/17
Shorebird, Horseshoe Crab Connection Highlighted in Film
Delaware: The Delaware Shorebird Project has premiered “Feast on the Beach: The Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Shorebird Connection,” a film produced to raise awareness and understanding about the ecological connection between horseshoe crabs and shorebirds migrating through the Delaware Bay area, as well as the researchers who study them. ERDG’s Backyard Stewardship™ and Just flip ’em!™ programs are also featured. download the pdf.
02/18/17
Students on a Mission to Save Horseshoe Crabs
Pennsylvania: The Stetson students are participating in an extracurricular activity in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania for a regional STEM competition. As the first students to join the Ecological Research and Development Group’s “Protecting Health” initiative, they will compete in the FIRST LEGO Team Robocolypse, at Penn in November. download the pdf.
01/31/17
Kirk Middle School Student’s Drawing to be Featured in Horseshoe Crab Book
New Jersey: Briana Bradley, a Kirk Middle School student, was recently selected to have her artwork published in a book about horseshoe crabs. download the pdf.
01/17/17
Young Voices, Horseshoe Crabs and the Arts 2016
Delaware: Our 2016 contest year received 567 entries from China, Hong Kong, and the USA. Our judges selected 40 of the most compelling artworks from each grade level that entered. As always, the task was challenging, for all forms of personal expression are, by their very nature, an honest reflection of the heart within. Since the programs inception in 1998, the Young Voices that give this program life, has grown from a few hundred, to many thousands around the world. We celebrate these young environmental stewards, whose compassion for the conservation of this remarkable species, expressed through art, has elevated and transformed our perception of this often-misunderstood marine. download the pdf.
01/15/17
ERDG Launches New Student and Professional Artists Galleries
Delaware: ERDG, who is dedicated to the conservation of the world’s four horseshoe crab species, launches a completely rebuilt “Poems, Tales & Images” section on its award winning website www.horseshoecrab.org. Our new “Poems, Tales & Images” section now comprise two galleries. The first gallery represents student artists selected each year in our Young Voices™, Horseshoe Crabs and the Arts competition, since the programs inception in 1998 up to and including our 2016 winners. The second gallery, is for professional artists who have chosen horseshoe crabs as their subject matter. We hope our professional gallery continues the heart felt expression of our student artists in celebration of this remarkable mariner. download the pdf.
01/14/17
ERDG Launches New Conservation Section
Delaware: This new “Conservation” section is designed to foster communication between governmental organizations (GO’s), non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and the general public, by providing information on who is doing what and where, as it pertains to horseshoe crab conservation. download the pdf.